James Harden has been the subject of a lot of trade rumors over the last week. Reports emerged recently that Harden was unhappy in Brooklyn, and was looking to find his way out. The Philadelphia 76ers have emerged as the primary candidate to land Harden, either in a trade or in the offseason as a free agent.
The 76ers believe that Harden will not be re-signing with the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason. And on top of that, the 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey is a huge admirer of James Harden, having brought him to Houston in 2012, and the two are very close friends.
The 76ers have their own disgruntled stars in Ben Simmons, and they are looking to offload him too. Harden was intentionally left out of the Nets’ last game, as trade talks are reportedly intensifying. And one potential trade could be coming to fruition, with 4 teams in talks.
NBA insider James Stewart recently reported that there are discussions ongoing about a potential 4-team trade between the 76ers, Nets, New Orleans Pelicans, and the Oklahoma City Thunder, a trade that would land James Harden in Philadelphia, and change the look of the other teams’ rosters significantly.
Heard the Nets, 76ers, Pelicans and Thunder were / are trying to figure out a deal with James Harden, Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons as part of it. James Harden would end up in Philly.
— James Stewart ☝️ (@IAmJamesStewart) February 8, 2022
There is no word on which other players are also being touted in these trade discussions, but Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris have been mentioned. One has to assume, given the current situation, the 76ers will be looking to ship Ben Simmons in this trade. On top of that, one has to wonder whether the Pelicans will be using their newfound assets from the CJ McCollum trade for this trade.
There isn’t a lot of time for this trade to materialize, as the deadline to complete all trades for the season is tomorrow. But the last 24 hours have shown us that we can see massive trades occur at any moment.
